On Sunday, a fan commented on Grimes' most recent Instagram post, asking whether she and Elon Musk have changed the name of their child.
"What is the baby's new name," the fan asked, to which Grimes replied "X Æ A-Xii." Musk and the Canadian musician made headlines following the birth of their first child this month — not only because "X Æ A-12 Musk" is an unusual name, but also because it doesn't comply with Californian law.
The law states that neither numbers nor the "Æ" is permitted as part of a name, so they've switched out the "12" for Roman numerals and presumably used "AE" in place of the Nordic character.
This was far from the first time the baby's name made headlines. When Grimes announced her pregnancy with Elon Musk in a controversial Instagram post in January, fans and trolls seized the chance to suggest hilarious and bizarre names. Once the couple announced the baby's name, the internet speculated wildly about how to pronounce"X Æ A-12 Musk." Thanks to a recent conversation between Musk and Joe Rogan, we have a clearer idea of how to pronounce it. According to Musk, the name was all Grimes' idea.“She’s great at names," he said, before clearing up our pronunciation struggles. “it’s just X, the letter X, and then the Æ is pronounced ‘Ash’ and then A-12 is my contribution. Archangel 12, the precursor to the SR-71. Coolest plane ever. It’s true.” He added, “I think it’s better being older and having a kid. I appreciate it more. Babies are awesome.”
So, "X Æ A-12 Musk" = X Ash Archangel 12. The updated, legal version presumably follows the same logic and pronunciation.
Grimes originally explained the meaning behind the name as follows; The X stands for "the unknown variable" – obviously. Æ is the elven spelling for AI which represents love or Artificial Intelligence. A-12 refers to the precursor to her and Musk's favorite aircraft the SR-17 – although, we believe Grimes is referring to the SR-71, which actually is a strategic aircraft. The reason this makes for a perfect baby name is that it has "No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent." The A in A-12 also refers to "Anarchy," which is her favorite song. Grimes ended her explanation with swords and rat emoji along with the phrase “metal rat,” which we hope is a reference to this year in the Chinese zodiac.
At the time, Twitter users, sequestered in their homes, took a jab at pronouncing the bizarre name. The newborn baby– now renamed X Æ A-Xii– has quickly become butt of a lot of extra-terrestrial jokes and memes, scroll down for some of the most hilarious ones.
Pronounce "X Æ A-12 Musk": Wrong answers only
Find more of the funniest Twitter reactions below.
Grimes and Elon Musk shared the first pictures on Twitter this morning. The 32-year-old singer, real name Claire Boucher, reportedly gave birth to a son on Monday. True to form, Musk confirmed the news in a tweet updating fans yesterday, "Mom & baby all good." He also confirmed that the child is a boy.
Grimes has previously stated that she won't be gendering the child. In a now-private YouTube Q&A session, Grimes said that she will let the child decide their own gender. “I don’t want to gender them in case that’s not how they feel in their life."
The baby is the first for Grimes, while Elon Musk has five sons from a previous marriage. Grimes revealed in a recent interview that she plans to send the child to live in the woods with her grandfather, so they don’t become too spoiled. “He’s very intense. Lots of physical labor in the cold and whatnot.”
Grimes (32) and Musk (48) made their public debut at the 2018 Met Gala.
